Radial or round tables have been used for centuries for dining and other purposes. A historical limitation of such tables concerns the inability of such tables to easily expand when needed for larger dinner parties or functions that require more table space. Rectangular tables, on the other hand, have long offered leaf sections that allow the length of the table to increase to accommodate greater surface area provided by the inserted leafs.
Several designers have attempted approaches to allow a user to increase the surface area of radial tables, in particular. In one solution, circumferential outer sections or partial rings are designed to fit on the outer edges of a round table, thereby allowing the diameter of the table to increase. In another and quite famous solution, Robert Jupe developed around 1835 a radial table containing sections that diverge from a common center to allow for insertion of expansion leaves. In one embodiment, the Jupe table would increase in diameter by rotating its perimeter in the manner of a ship's capstan. After rotation, the pie sections of the table would spread and move radially outwards. Expansion leaves or “fence posts,” stored separately from the table, would then fill the voids created from the expanding pie sections, thereby creating a larger radial table. Robert Jupe and his associates produced many such “Jupe” or “Capstan” tables throughout the Nineteenth century.
One of the principle drawbacks of the solutions of others is the requirement that the expansion wedges or rings must also be stored remote from the table. This makes the expansion process cumbersome and slow. Further, the rotating features of the Capstan contributed to the cost and size of the tables.
Hence there remains a need for a method and mechanism to expand a table of various shapes, including radial tables, without the requirement of remote storage of expansion sections and without complicated and cumbersome mechanisms.